Leonardo: French federation forced me out of PSG

PARIS (AP) — Former Paris Saint-Germain sporting director Leonardo says the French football federation forced out of the club.

Leonardo resigned in July, a little over a month after he was suspended for shoving a referee following a home match.

The Brazilian says the sentence was "very difficult for me to accept" and "what they did to me was very unjust."

He adds "It was impossible to continue to do my work ... I was the main man responsible for the project at PSG, but everything became too complicated with this suspension."

In May, Leonardo was handed a nine-month ban after he appeared to deliberately barge into referee Alexandre Castro following a 1-1 home draw. The suspension was later extended to June 30, 2014, after a failed appeal.